Hi all,
In Sacks' book, he talks a lot about forced reminiscence / uprush of
long-forgotten memories or dreams as a "common" classical migraine
symptom.

However, there is not much information about this elsewhere, and not
many people's case studies talk to it. I realize that in a lot of
cases people don't think to connect the two. Sacks was also good
enough to differentiate this from epileptic aura with deja vu
characteristics.

Does anyone else here get this? I've come across only two other
people, but would like to hear others' stories if they do -- has it
always been there? how frequent? how long does it last? do you get it
with every mig, etc. ?

Thanks in advance,

smarwood92

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2
10th April 21:52

wafflycathcs

External User

Posts: 1

Forced Reminiscence

OOhh, sounds *interesting* can you elaborate a bit more?

Cheers, helen s

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3
11th April 06:03

sm

External User

Posts: 1

Forced Reminiscence (migraine)

"These states are sometimes associated with a multitude of other feelings:
the thought that time has stopped, or is mysteriously recapitulating itself;
the feeling that one is dreaming or momentarily transported to another
world; feelings of intense nostalgia, in deja vu, sometimes associated with
an uprush of long-forgotten memories"

He goes on to state that typically in TLE, this consists of "the unfolding
of a stereotyped, unchanging, reiterative dream sequence or memory sequence
in every attack" (although these do occur in migraine as well)

But in migraine "free-wheeling states of hallucinosis, illusion or
'dreaming' which may be experienced during intense migraine auras, and be
manifest as confused or confabulatory states of which the patient retains
imperfect recollection. These states are composed of coherent,
dramatically-organised series of images, and are usually compared by
patients to intense, imvoluntary daydreams or daymares."

And finally "Such states of dreamy reminiscence are quite frequent in
classical migraines".

Simon

sm

4
11th April 06:04

sm

External User

Posts: 1

Forced Reminiscence (migraine)

"These states are sometimes associated with a multitude of other feelings:
the thought that time has stopped, or is mysteriously recapitulating itself;
the feeling that one is dreaming or momentarily transported to another
world; feelings of intense nostalgia, in deja vu, sometimes associated with
an uprush of long-forgotten memories"

He goes on to state that typically in TLE, this consists of "the unfolding
of a stereotyped, unchanging, reiterative dream sequence or memory sequence
in every attack" (although these do occur in migraine as well)

But in migraine "free-wheeling states of hallucinosis, illusion or
'dreaming' which may be experienced during intense migraine auras, and be
manifest as confused or confabulatory states of which the patient retains
imperfect recollection. These states are composed of coherent,
dramatically-organised series of images, and are usually compared by
patients to intense, imvoluntary daydreams or daymares."

And finally "Such states of dreamy reminiscence are quite frequent in
classical migraines".

sm

5
11th April 14:04

corvus

External User

Posts: 1

Forced Reminiscence (migraine)

[edited to save bytes, or, to use a new acronym: ETSB]

SM.

I remember reading a long time ago about the early days of brain surgery on a
living, conscious, patient. A surgeon, a Scot I believe, reported that he could,
by moving a small probe across the surface of a patients brain, cause the
patient to recall long forgotten incidents. Once one accepts the astounding fact
that old memories are actually still there, and that they can be brought forth
by mere pressure on the brain, it is hardly surprising that migraine, which is
probably also caused by pressure on the brain, is sometimes accompanied by
similar memories. (As a matter of fact, this phenomenon might go a long way in
explaining aura in general).

Oliver Sacks is a renowned neurologist who wrote "the" book on migraines --
you can find it and see the table of contents on amazon.com; it goes into
all the weird and wonderful things that come along with this disease.

SM

sm

7
12th April 22:36

catherine yronwode

External User

Posts: 1

Forced Reminiscence (migraine)

I just wanted to let you know that i have had this sort of
perception quite often. A certain street corner. A certain
woman's face. They come on without warning and then they are
gone. Not every migraine brings them, but they are so much "the
same" each time that i have always assumed they consisted of
specific memory-points being stimulated. New ones have been added
through the years, some of them relating to particularly intense
migraines, for instance, a time that a man tried to drum on my
head to calm the migraine. I barely remember him, but BANG! there
he is, drumming on my head, and i can even smell the peculiarly
unpleasant mildew smell in his house. I've learned to ignore
these flashes unless they are pleasant or nostalgic. They do seem
seizure-like, but i have no other seizure-like affects. They seem
to be the memory counterparts of intense cortical-visual auras,
which are more frequent for me, and take the form of stunningly
intricate orange-and-black, ever-shifting Op-art "quilt blocks"
that completely obscure my field of vision.